Harrison Ford is apparently up for being in STAR WARS VII & Harry finally chimes in...

Hey folks, Harry here... Geoff Boucher has apparently gotten ahold of spies close to the new STAR WARS projects and they claim that Harrison Ford is open to the concept of playing Han Solo again in this new Star Wars series... And why the hell not.

Sorry I haven't chimed in on Disney's acquisition of LUCASFILM. Every Halloween I throw an enormous (for me) House Party and I was out of the house supervising and helping to art direct the crazy thing. When Moises called me about it and Nordling - I had seen the news hit on Twitter, but wasn't feeling a rush to write about it. That was coming. The whole of the internet has chimed in. I had a great Halloween, a BNAT list filled weekend, Dentist, Rehab, Hitchcock Screening invites... and now I am ready to write about this.

How do I feel?

I have wanted this to happen ever since RETURN OF THE JEDI.

For first generation STAR WARS fans like me, the late Eighties & Nineties were a very long dry spell. We read everything. Hell, I remember when I read in the Letter's column of some issue of Spawn where MacFarlane talked about seeing a CG X-Wing fighter at ILM and I just about popped! This was the pre-Internet days. You read every interview in every magazine. You looked at old newspapers on microfilm. If you were a geek, and you had to know - it was hard. Then in the late nineties things exploded with message boards. Newsgroups were a fountain of information if you had entire days into the scouring. By the time I started AICN, there weren't that many of us that were tracking Lucas, but the one thing we learned in covering gorgeous George was that this was kinda always his long game.

From the moment STAR TOURS happened, you had to start to wonder about their relationship. Not to mention CAPTAIN EO. But more than that. Disney has been incrementally buying George Lucas' legacy for years. They bought PIXAR. They bought Lucas' creative partner JIM HENSON. Now they have his INDUSTRIAL LIGHTS & MAGIC & SKYWALKER SOUND along with Lucasfilm. Actually, DISNEY is exactly in the correct position to start making STAR WARS films... They have all the right pieces.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear Disney buying Tippett Studios too. Actually I would. But these days, you never can tell.

There's been a lot of talk behind the scenes regarding the future of STAR WARS movies. I have heard of several meetings with Lucasfilm regarding the concept of financing additional STAR WARS films in co-productions. How do I feel about George selling it all? I hope Disney keeps all the pieces kicking ass for filmmakers across Hollywood. I hope Disney continues to let those companies innovate and push the industry higher and higher.

But most of all, I am really excited about STAR WARS 7,8, 9. I've been talking about what these films could be since Ewok fireworks went off. This means at some point we will have Grand Admiral Thrawn. And that is just fucking blissful! I love the idea of great filmmakers getting a shot at the Universe. To me, it's the wet dream for an entire generation of filmmakers. I've had those conversations with folks that openly talk about dreaming of making their own STAR WARS universe film.

A full on STAR WARS series of theme parks. I want. Hell, I wanted the Vegas ENTERPRISE and still demand that that happen.

But most of all, I love the excitement of the dreaming of who will direct Episode 7 - and who is writing it? Our ol pal Frosty floated Matthew Vaughn today, I did reach out to Matthew today, but as of yet haven't heard back. The few times I reached out to him in the past, I heard back pretty quick, so that makes me wonder.

What would a Matthew Vaughn EPISODE 7 look like?

I don't know, but that excites me. I know Vaughn is a huge fan of practical and digital. We know he's a playful filmmaker. He doesn't quite wink at the audience, but you can tell he's thinking about it. Most of all, I know the feeling would be there. I know Vaughn could make the universe live a bit more. Feel a bit more real. Would he amplify Jedi powers? Whatever the overriding theme that George intended will be justly handled by him. I have faith in Vaughn...

I kinda hope Frosty's right and in the next few days we discover that Jane Goldman is writing Episode VII with Matthew Vaughn. Then I'd just die if they said they were shooting at Leavesden. But I'm also making room in my brain for other possibilities. I could see Joe Johnston getting his Boba Fett movie eventually. I mean, he's already said it. I'd love to see Edgar Wright play in that universe. Quentin Tarantino. David Fincher. And a ton of others. I say let's get all spaghetti Western with this backlot that just opened up. Tell little noir tales and enormous epics. Tell a horror story in Star Wars. After 7,8,9, I hope the gloves come off and they get exciting. Don't get me wrong, Journal of the Whills gets me hard. Those early expanded universe novel series... yes. Please. Old Republic stuff. Yes.

That was never going to happen under Lucas. The films had to be the one true canon. And there will be Lucas fans that adhere to the Original Six. And I know those that think there are only three. And I've even heard from the one true Star Wars.

Then there's the cynical old fart in me that knows that the first tough cycle Disney hits those other Lucas companies have a chance of dying off... and that'd be a damn shame. I'm not talking soon. But down the line. It always happens.

Most of all, I really do wish George Lucas a fond farewell. Wanting to know what he was up to was what made me me. I have always been a maniac STAR WARS geek and I'm excited to know that through Disney - there's a very real hope that they seize the opportunity to create a whole other American Innovator identity, like Walt Disney himself. George Lucas deserves nothing less. His vision to build ILM has made the modern visual effects age possible. And I don't know about you, but I kinda love that.

And from my stand point on AICN - we get a whole universe of cool shit to talk about - till your ears & eyes bleed. STAR WARS is in play again. It could be the most amazing thing ever & it could suck balls. But we're all gonna be eating up every last bit of it. There's been a group of fans that have had to watch Harry Potter and LORD OF THE RINGS take the light. Then came the Superheroes. And Transformers. Well, STAR WARS is going to be a roaring behemoth, unless Disney just really screws the pooch. Honestly, knowing the folks at Disney that I do. I kinda see this as an ideal marriage.

I've had countless conversations about an open STAR WARS universe. Imagine the David Lynch REVENGE OF THE JEDI. I have. It could have happened. What I prey we don't get is a boring precious Star Wars universe. Directors boxed in. I want to see Scorsese's STAR WARS movie. I'm serious. Let DePalma shoot an R-rated tale of obsession gone wrong in some low level of Coruscant. You see, I think STAR WARS is that kind of universe. It's even more pliable than James Bond. We could see Star Wars fashion become more pervasive in society. Could the merchandizing grow? Possibly. I've see R2D2 mail boxes... did Lucas have some form of tech built in that Disney now controls? I don't know. But I want to. The idea of Imagineers having free reign with Lucas' worlds... and I hope they relaunch Willow's world. And HOWARD THE DUCK!

I just wonder if Disney will be nearly as insane aggressive as I'd like them to be. Somehow I think 1 film every two years is a good way to get the machine greased before hitting a new world record.

I'm curious to see how Disney embraces the various fan communities that have grown quite close to Lucasfilm. Lucasfilm had begun to open up quite a bit after many years where to make a fan film was to be punk rock, it suddenly became something, everyone tries a couple of times.

After all the paperwork dries, after the first film hits, will begin to have a real good idea of what this deal is going to mean. Anybody know of any large Disney land purchases recently? I really am most excited about the notion of a fully conceived Star Wars dedicated themepark that you had to go to in costume. But that's just me.

I can't wait to nerd out with any number of friends - and I guarantee you that every moment that somebody isn't trying to get me to say something about a furry footed film, it'll be about STAR WARS.

With Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Marvel - Disney has just exploded to a different level altogether in my mind. They're just scratching at the door of possibilities with Marvel... but a Skrull-Empire Aliance versus the Kree-Rebellion? DROOOOOOOOOOOL. It could have happened in those badass Bail Organa years, you don't know!

So yeah, I'm into this. Let's just see how quickly they want their investment back. They're gonna need to spend a lot more to get it going, but if they do it, it's going to be absolutely amazing. Let's hope they embrace the potential to it's maximum potential.

Aren't you mildly curious to see what happens now that the Genie is out of the bottle?

"Journal of the Whills gets me hard" is just freaking disturbing. Shouldn't YOUR WIFE get you hard? Seriously, man. While I faked a heat-stroke in Phoenix to see the original in 1977 at the Cine Capri in glorious 70mm Dolby stereo, my geek credentials cry foul of that comment. Get yourself together, man.

A couple things:
1) I love how the real news here, that Han Solo is open to coming back, is more or less an afterthought because clearly Harry's opinion is more important.
2) I also love how Harry says "most of all" at least three different times about three different things (I ended up just skimming the majority of this piece). I do not think that phrase means what you think it means, Harry.

There is a certain nostalgic charm to hearing Harry have a geekgazm about Star Wars all over again. I completely echo his hope and excitement for what could be a great ride to come. Call me crazy, but I have a feeling Disney is going to nail it bigtime.

...by grown men waxing inelegantly and exorbitantly about the prospect of new Star Wars whatever.
...Especially the whole mixing of adult/teenboy sexual terminology with fan fetish vernacular. Gross.
Really, I just came into this article wondering if Harrison had given in and realized he needed to perform a last-ditch career resurrection move. Nah. It's verbiage time for someone completely unrelated to the header topic.
Then again, my favorite film at 12 years old was "All The President's Men." Guess I need to rethink my subscription here.

I'll be first in line for an Episode VII. If Harrison Ford is in it, even better. But a grown man fantasizing about theme parks and merchandise and crossover possibilities... Harry, without ever having met you, I say with confidence that your wife needs more attention.

In 1998 this optimism about what Star Wars might be was fun, and it was what allowed this site to burgeon and grow. And then it turned out that instead of a fun nostalgic visit to what we loved at kids, it was a cold, soulless money grab that took a giant crap all over what we loved as kids, and the thousands and thousands of hours geeks spent pontificating about what the prequels might turn out to be could have been better spent putting time and effort into leading more functional lives.
That lesson has been learned. Now is the time to show the universe that the lesson has been learned...instead of using the Star Wars universe as an excuse to continue living a gluttonous, sedentary lifestyle. Watching movies should be a passtime, not a substitute for a healthy life.

i knew ford would want in on this. it's a fucking easy huge paycheck. he hasn't had a decent hit since the late 90's
Plus at this age he becomes nostalgic about the past and meh, he's alright being known as han or indy.
This Will be awesome. Someone get Mark Hamill into a fucking gym.

Look say what you say about Phantom Menace, but that was the first time we'd EVER seen real true Jedi's in action and it was the coolest shit ever. There's no denying that Darth Maul was an amazing villain...and that FIGHT! Who wasn't blown away by that 3 way battle, it's still one of the coolest fights in the history of fights and the effects were beyond groundbreaking at the time, I think we forget that. The Clone Wars...sure it has clunky acting and dialouge (but so did the original trilogy...if you take the blinders off) but it's still arolicking good time, I like the detecitive aspect, I like Yoda fighting....but look...does anyone really HATE Revenge of The Sith? That's actually my favorite Star Wars, even more than Empire. Look the Prequels aren't perfect, far from it, but I don't think they even come close to deserving the hate that they get.

Look say what you say about Phantom Menace, but that was the first time we'd EVER seen real true Jedi's in action and it was the coolest shit ever. There's no denying that Darth Maul was an amazing villain...and that FIGHT! Who wasn't blown away by that 3 way battle, it's still one of the coolest fights in the history of fights and the effects were beyond groundbreaking at the time, I think we forget that. The Clone Wars...sure it has clunky acting and dialouge (but so did the original trilogy...if you take the blinders off) but it's still arolicking good time, I like the detecitive aspect, I like Yoda fighting....but look...does anyone really HATE Revenge of The Sith? That's actually my favorite Star Wars, even more than Empire. Look the Prequels aren't perfect, far from it, but I don't think they even come close to deserving the hate that they get.

fuck the haunted house and hitchcock shit harry, get your priorities straight, i'm not even talking about your all singing and dancing ruby on rails site. a fucking edit button man. thats all im asking for.

Im really not all that excited about Star Wars anymore after the prequels killed the universe for me. If they are bringing back Harrison Ford, people need to remember that this isnt Harrison Ford of the 1980s and he no l

I've taken the apologist's view of the prequels from time to time but damn if it isn't tough to defend Attack of the Clones. That one is really clunky and all over the place. I mean even worse than the other two (hairbrush sequence from SITH aside.)
Jango Fett, like Darth Maul, is killed off before realizing the character's full potential. Obi-Wan's detective story subplot becomes ridiculous when the Clone order is attributed to the Jedi, then the Clones are immediately handed over to the Republic for wholesale slaughter...I just can't see the Jedi feeling the least bit agreeable about that, emergency or not.

After doing a whole of of skimming, to get by the (I'm terribly sorry, but the more boring it gets with the more boring personal elements of the piece's author) I feel like I saw remarkably very little in there to do with anything about Harrison Ford feeling positive or not over returning to the SW brand name.

Apparently they broke first news of this in 2009 I have never heard of Marketsaw before yesterday but it seems that everything said there is coming true. If that is true, its the best news I have ever heard. They confirmed Matthew Vaughn and Han Solo a week ago too. Along with Hamill and Fisher coming back. I had a look at the original story too from 2009 http://marketsaw.blogspot.ca/2009/10/exclusive-lucasfilm-gearing-up-another.html What do you guys and girls think bulshit and guesswork or legit ? There is a lot of info in those posts and a lot seems to be gaining some validity.

STAR WARS - EPISODE VII
It is a dark time for the New Republic. Dark Jedi have appeared from the outreaches of the galaxy to plague the young government. LUKE SKYWALKER, the last Jedi Master, only has mere days to put together a team of Jedi students to strike back at the attackers.
To make matters worse, GENERAL HAN SOLO has kidney stones, and his faithful wife PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA travels with companion CHEWBACCA to her mother's home world of Naboo to find the cure for the massive stones...

please edit this stuff before posting. "prey" vs "pray". "see" vs "seen". come on dude, you're supposed to be pro. and they've already said 7-9 won't be based on existing stories, so why are you expecting for thrawn?

61 years old and looks closer to 71 than 51. Not much of an actor. A pretty sad career. This is the guy you're going to hang 300 million dollars worth of prequels on? Christ, I hope not.
It's time to recast with actors who look 10-20 years older than the ROTJ cast. Not 40 YEARS OLDER.
And Thrawn.... give up on that. It's not going to happen.

...also, blow up the fucking droids already. And, didn't they defeat the Empire in Jedi? What's the point of this? Rebuilding the Jedi Council? Han and Leia's kids?
I hope this is great, but I reserve excitement.

1. "The idea of Imagineers having free reign with Lucas' worlds... and I hope they relaunch Willow's world. And HOWARD THE DUCK!"
Imagineers only work with Disney's parks and resorts. So if you're implying Willow or Howard the Duck might end up in Disneyland or WDW, you'd be mistaken. You'll be lucky to get a new Star Wars ride out of this deal.
2. "I want to see Scorsese's STAR WARS movie. I'm serious. Let DePalma shoot an R-rated tale of obsession gone wrong in some low level of Coruscant. You see, I think STAR WARS is that kind of universe."
This is Disney we're talking about. As interesting as the idea sounds, they're not going to treat a KID'S property as a DePalma R-rated crime drama.
The money is with the kids and merchandise, and spending ANY money to make a film that excludes either of those components won't happen on the Mouse's watch.

..about Lucas planning episodes 1,2,3 & 7,8,9. About dedicated cinemas running all 9 episodes on a loop.. About Lucas opening the rights to have other directors create movies in the SW universe: from the trenches, to the swamps to the deserts-personal soldier stories or heist movies or romances whatever. At least that notion might have influenced other film makers and still it might happen.

The thought of 3 more movies, plus the accompanying tide of media exposure overkill bullshit fills me with dread
All of the fun and innocence has gone, Disney's acquisition of Star Wars is. Proof that it's only all about the money, honey.
I won't get fooled again.

I've had Scorsese at the back of my mind ever since the news but I dared not speak such a mad dream. I have no doubt (especially after Hugo) that he can be great in any genre he wants. If I had my way, it would be Whedon writing and Marty directing.

I cant honestly describe how this news makes me feel. I havent been this excited about Star Wars....since before the prequels came out. I dont think(I hope)we're not going to be let down again. Star Wars is NOT George Lucas' personal vision anymore...its a brand. A $4 billion dollar investment...I think Disney is going to build on what went before and do some amazing things...things SW fans havent even conceived of yet(and its NOT going to be Thrawn or the novels or the comics). I'm looking forward to these movies...I'm looking forward to the theme park rides...I'm looking forward to walking into a Disney store and seeing wall-to-wall Star Wars. I'm even looking forward to a 70+ year old Harrison Ford grumping his way to another paycheck. We're gonna party like its 1977....

With Empire's piece about Hamil and Fisher having lunch with Lucas in August and being told about the new films and asked for 'input' you can bet Ford was told at the same time. Also Ford has seemed to be lightening up about Star Wars for a number of years now. Remember that Q&A he turned up at a showing of TESB a couple of years ago. Surprised a lot of folks with that one. Also Vaughn is a perfect match in spirit. He's seen a few projects being fucked up by studio interference but still managed to make Kick-Ass without studio money. That would appeal to Lucas. It won't take long for us find out if Jane Goldman is handling script duties because there is no way in hell her husband could keep quiet about it for much longer. He'll tweet the cat out of the bag soon enough.

The guy is an acting god and should star in every role in every big feature.
So say the basement dwelling nerds of AICN Talkbacks.
Seriously is there a major role that some nerd HASN'T suggested Fassbender for?

I attended the Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, this summer, and it was widely known that Lucas was there, as he'd made an appearance at one of the panels. However, there was a rumor that Lucas had been seen having lunch with Harrison Ford, who had also had a couple of alleged sightings by convention staff. At the time, the Ford rumor sounded like bullshit, because everyone knows how he feels about Star Wars. Why would go to this thing just for kicks? But, in light of the Lucasfilm sale, which must have been in the offing well before Celebration, and now this news, I believe the claims were on the level. Because all of the other principals of the OT (sans Billy Dee Williams) were appearing at the show, gathered in one place, it would make sense if Lucas invited Ford out and used the opportunity to explain what was happening with the franchise and pitch the idea of the original cast kicking off the new trilogy. There is no getting around that they have to introduce a new Skywalker to carry these movies and keep this saga ib the family. Bringing back at least one of the existing Skywalkers to bridge from the OT is logical and necessary.
John Shade Vick

Patiently I read through the bad grammar but when he starts wanting a resurgence of Willow and Howard The Duck? What the fuck?
Gleefully trying to imagine a Marvel/Star Wars crossover? Are you fucking kidding me?
I know anything is possible but I think I understand enough about film to know a R rated DePalma Star Wars (cool as that could be) is so unfuckinglikely.
After all these years, sometimes it really seems like we talkback geeks understand Hollywood politics better than Harry and what are my credentials for being in the know? Books, Empire magazine, the internet, director commentaries and...haha!...8 fucking seasons of Entourage. Much as i'm working to be...i'm not an insider.
The mind boggles.

... we have been led to believe Hamill will reprise his role as Luke Skywalker and be a Jedi Master... but it may only be a cameo or the equivalent of Obi-Wan Kenobi's role in A New Hope. We assume Carrie Fisher is on board and may play a role similar to Mon Mothma. And we have long known that Harrison Ford wasn't interested in reprising the role of Han Solo. If that has changed, cool, but I don't expect it. I DO expect R2-D2 and C-3PO to be in it as they were meant to be in all 9 films.
Ultimately, it is said that the next film will be an original story. Don't expect the Zahn books. No Thrawn. Sorry, Harry. This story will be something new.
I'm still giddy and my childhood obsession with the franchise is reignited, but we really don't know what is going to happen.
We don't know the writer, director, the plot, or the characters. We can have fun assuming, but we have very little to go on for now.

The old Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine was pretty much the primary source of SW and Lucas related news back in the pre-internet days...
It covered all Lucas oriented stuff like SW, Indy, Willow, Young Indy, ILM, Skywalker Sound, early LucasArts games, etc....
It even had an announcement back in the early 90s for the movie that would eventually become Red Tails.
I remember reading every issue, scouring it for any Star Wars related item.
The mag evolved from Bantha Tracks, and ultimately became the SW Insider shortly before the Special Editions and Prequels were announced.

FFS organising a party is now 'Art Directing' a party!!
In that case, I'm off to 'mechanically engineer' my car......(put petrol in it).
The Delusional Knowles ego and hype machine knows no bounds!!
Some of us who actually studied, trained and have worked as art directors for 20 or so years wouldn't be so quick to refer to themselves as 'Art Directing' 'a party'
Jeez Harry, you're a successful grown man in your own right, try to be (just a little bit) humble, or at least learn what art direction actually is!!

But if one reads between the lines, it's quite obvious the condition is the paycheck.
I always felt that Ford always had something like contempt for SW. As if he resented his first bout of fame and fortune came from SW. But then again, we must remember that before Raiders Of The Lost Ark, people only knew him as Han Solo, and every other movie he made out of SW flopped or were not well received, people just though of him as Han Solo and nothign else. So i guess his resentment is kinda justified, Still...
So, it's this simple: You want ford in the new Sw movie, jusyt present a fat paycheck to him and he will be there, showing his boredom once again.

Han Solo might mean... the Millennium Falcon. I mean the full size one they used for the hangar shots and all those groovy padded cream interior sets, bring all that back out of storage!
Watching the deleted scenes for RETURN OF THE JEDI theres one sequence where you see Rebel gunners running around inside the Falcon and manning the guns during the final space battle. Man, I forgot how much I missed seeing inside that ship - you didnt actually get a lot of Falcon for your money in the theatrical cut of JEDI.
I wonder if the sets got broken up and junked after the films or if they are still in storage somewhere?

Nov. 6, 2012, 3:59 a.m. CST

by Cobra--Kai

Harry, good call on Leavesden.
Pls pls pls do not shoot this on greenscreen in Australia again. Nothing against the Aussies but it just didnt work for the prequels.
STAR WARS should be an anglo-american production again.

True, the EU novels won't be filmed.
However, that doesn't mean that characters from the books WON'T be used. They could include Thrawn but in a story which differs from the Zahn books. Lucas even alluded to it in that video where he talks about the sale to Disney. He basically said that Disney now has the right to use whatever thay want in that vast treasure trove of films, books, comics, etc.

who gives a shit about your halloween, or how you "art direct" it...god, just report the damn news and chime in on it, thats the only job you were given.
As for Ford, it would definitely give the new trilogy some continuity and legitimacy, go for it.

You're mad, utterly mad.
A Marvel-SW crossover? Jesus, that would be TERRIBLE. As would the glorified fan films be that other directors would make while "dabbling" in the SW universe. Some people have actually wished for a Tarantino SW film on these boards. That would be ghastly.

Harrison Ford said to some random person that he'd be willing to play Solo again? That's news?
Get back to me when he's cast. Right now, this is the biggest non-news story I've heard associated with Disney acquiring Star Wars. It's less than non-news. I know less now than when I started reading.

And unlike most of my hopes, this has a very good chance of happening. If this happens, my roar of laughter will be heard throughout the whole continent.
If selling LucasFilm do Disney is George Lucas's revenge on the geeks, i hope the best for him and his plan.

Count on it.
Starkiller is the most powerful force user in the entire SW universe.

Nov. 6, 2012, 4:33 a.m. CST

by Cobra--Kai

scirocco, you seem like a halfway intelligent guy but your attitude really does stink. Nothing but negative nelly comments in every thread.
Why not wait until you have a talkback about something you like and then comment there - positivity not negativity for once?

Nov. 6, 2012, 4:36 a.m. CST

by Cobra--Kai

*A death clause coupled with a dump truck full of money and weed is all it will take.*
Get off my lawn!
But Mr Ford.. its your dump truck full of money and weed.
Oh. Okay just back it up and empty that shit out there next to the fountain, then get Jabba on the phone - tell him ive got his money.

Douglas who will provide 95% of Han Solo's performance has said that he is really looking forward to being covered from head to toe in ping pong balls. "Harry is an old friend of mine, we go back to the war for fucks sake. The funny thing is though that while we were in the trenches in Europe I once joked about the only thing I hadn't done sexually was to be covered in ping pong balls. We'll like 80 years later that dream has become a reality and I couldn't be more pleased. I have also been studying wasps as an inspiration for the character. Sounds crazy I know but wasps have that black stripe around them don't they? And Hans Solo also has a black stripe of sorts with his cowboy jacket thing and all that." Meanwhile Harrison Ford has told everybody to stay the fuck out of his way whilst he prepares for his 5% of the legendary character. Unfortunately one young fan made the mistake of asking him for his autograph outside of public toilet. Ford's reply to the 6 year old cannot be published here for legal reasons, although one source close to the scene said that "I'd always heard that Harrison Ford was a bit grumpy, but to fist fuck a child and leave him for dead was something I was not expecting."

over two years. this news of the sale of Lucasfilm's properties is not news to Disney. They've known and have been working on it for a long time. McQuarrie designs should be forefront but Chang designs seem to over-rule. (no true grasp of what McQuarrie contributed)
All said, it's still awesome Disney will open some locked gates and Star Wars can take a deep breath of fresh air.

They want MONEY, and not much they've made since Eisner took over and shifted their production line to princess musical for minivan moms has been worth a blessed fuck.
This used to be a company that made ART, ART that the whole family could enjoy. Not CGI fish movies with Ellen DeGeneres.
Please, let's all praise Lucas, the last of the great independents, for selling out to a company that last I checked, even took the name WALT out of the -Walt Disney Pictures- intros
We have gone a long fucking way from WALT DISNEY, Crafstmen, and IMAGINEERS
THESE MOVIES BEING MADE ENTIRELY ON COMPUTERS BY ASIAN HIPSTERS CAN SUCK MY DICK.
AN ENTIRE ROOM FULL OF DUDES ON COMPUTERS IS NOT WORTH ONE!!!! PHIL TIPPETT OR ONE!!!! MILT KAHL

This would be my story for Episodes 7, 8 and 9. I’d keep it all in the family.
I’d like to see it set 30 years after the events of Jedi, with an older, badass, bitter and twisted Han Solo (he’s a drunk and he shoots things a lot, rather like John Wayne in True Grit) who is full of resentment towards Luke due to his involvement in the death of Leia many years ago. Han Solo has raised his only son Jacen away from the teachings of the force in order to protect him.
Luke (now playing the Obi Wan role as a mysterious old Jedi Knight) must teach Jacen the ways of the force in order to stop a powerful young Sith Lord (who is building a new empire) from taking over the galaxy.
The conflict between Jacen and the Sith Lord would be the centre of the trilogy.
The Sith Lord would later be revealed to be Luke’s son. He was taught the ways of the force by both Luke and Leia but then turned to the dark side.
Luke has grown weak since the death of Leia many years previous but her spirit encourages him to train Jacen to ultimately stop his son and save the galaxy.
Luke must redeem himself for his son’s defection to the dark side as well as the death of Leia (who was in fact murdered his own son) and Han Solo must forgive Luke for his part in the death of his wife. In so doing Solo salvages the old wreck of the Millennium Falcon, calls up his old friend Chewie and begins the process of saving STAR WARS.
Han Solo is killed at the end of Episode 7 but he dies in some fucking heroic fashion and at the end of the film Jacen sees Han’s spirit rejoin Leia’s as they watch over him.

And even if they had an interest in touching those stories or characters, that means setting the movies ten years or so after Jedi which means recasting all the main characters which to me is ridiculous.

OK, the new trilogy is going to happen.
OK, we all worry about the cast and creative team behind it.
but one element may really change the SW universe: the score! Let's face it, John Williams is not 20 anymore and he's scoring less and less movies, apart from Spielberg's. I suppose they'll keep the rights to the existing themes but having a different composer will really affect the way we perceive any SW film!
I love Giacchino, I love Howard Shore. Damn, I even love Hans Zimmer or James Horner when they decide to make something really good, but Williams is Williams. Can never be replaced and he's been one of the main SW actors, although an invisible one!

set up home on Endor, had a couple of kids, adopted a few Ewoks, and now have to go into exile after a "Dark" threat on their lives. Luke is nurturing a young would-be hero in the ways of the force on his ranch on Tatooine. The gang all get together, and the intergalactic madness starts all over again...oh,well.
Would be nice to see the old gang back, but i'm sure they will only recieve extended cameos to make way for a new breed to carry a new story.
Highly unlikely John Williams will return, seeing as he only works exclusively for Spielberg. Now, if old Steve-O only happened to be interested in carrying on the series...

if Mr Spielberg was interested to direct, that'd be great.
I can only dream about seeing Peter Jackson in the director's chair. The best of the LOTR applied to SW?
doesn't it feel like a natural alchemy?

Disney doesn't need to buy up any land to make this happen...just retrofit the ADHD Disney Studios/MGM Studios/Whatever-they're-calling-it-now...it's already got the two Lucas attractions, and much of the other dreck in that park needs to be razed anyway.

"I've asked him. He won't let me do one." These are the sad words of Steven Spielberg regarding his requests to direct Star Wars being turned down. For years, the director has begged George Lucas for a shot.
"I wanted to do one 15 years ago, and he didn't want me to do it. I understand why - Star Wars is George's baby." He mentioned he's still very interested in helming a story that takes place in a galaxy, far, far away.
---------------------------------------
Also, just a few days ago, John Williams said he was doing more films with Spielberg, so don't count the old team out until the bell rings. It's unusual for John Williams to say such a thing without naming the project.

Geoff Boucher has apparently gotten ahold of spies close to the new STAR WARS projects and they claim that Harrison Ford is open to the concept of playing Han Solo again in this new Star Wars series... Is that it? Not much of a scoop. Expand in it Harry.

STEVEN SPIELBERG still makes money from STAR WARS thirty years after coming out on top in a bet with movie mogul pal GEORGE LUCAS.
Lucas was so convinced his first Star Wars film would be a flop in 1977, he bet Spielberg a percentage of the take his sci-fi epic, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind would be a bigger film.
Spielberg recalls, "George came back from Star Wars a nervous wreck. He didn't feel Star Wars came up to the vision he initially had. He felt he had just made this little kids' movie.
"He came to Mobile, Alabama where I was shooting Close Encounters on this humongous set and hung out with me for a couple of days.
"He said, 'Oh my God, your movie is going to be so much more successful than Star Wars. This is gonna be the biggest hit of all time.'
"He said, 'You want to trade some points? I'll give you two and a half per cent of Star Wars if you give me two and a half per cent of Close Encounters.'
"I said, 'Sure, I'll gamble with that, great.' And I think I came out on top of that bet.
"Close Encounters made so much money and rescued Columbia from bankruptcy. It was the most money I ever made, but it was a meagre success story. Star Wars was a phenomenon and I was the happy beneficiary of a couple of points from that movie which I am still seeing money on today."

But think about it. Disney is more than capable of making a bunch of Phantom Menace's and driving the whole franchise into the dirt. Let's hope this doesn't happen, but it is Disney. They seem to have switched up their philosophy in recent years. But for a huge stretch of time there, Disney was more about making money than anything else. They're a merchandizing machine, targeting younger audiences because they know that's where they'll suck in the most cash from. I do hope they'll let this thing live and breathe. I hope they choose competant directors and they'll let those directors' and their film crews make the right decisions and make movies worthwhile not just to keep the franchise in the green, but to make these films as interesting as possible. For the love of the story, for the love of the characters, for the love of the Star Wars universe. Let's just say I'm optimistic, but I'm "cautiously" optimistic. I think you all should be too. Let's not set ourselves up for another episode 1 and 2. I don't think that'll happen. But you never know.

...for old times' sake -- the original and infamous AICN story with the fake Episode III script review and the hilarious talkback that followed. This is one for the ages.
Grando Carlissian lives!
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/14168

...a death clause, that is. Then again, Heston got to blow up the Earth when he got killed off in 'Beneath the Planet of the Apes'...I'd be frigging amazed if they did anything that crazy with our favorite nerf herder.

I hear some great ideas being thrown around and some great directors...
But really, even though the writing, acting, dialogue, and plot weren't great, those weren't the no.1 awful thing with the prequels...
The worst thing was that they pretty much invented "CGI shitfests" by being some of the worst looking and non-realistic looking movies of all time.
Star Wars needs to first and foremost LOOK like a Star Wars movie, i.e. you have to be convinced they're in a different galaxy and not just green-screened into a garish digital cartoon, otherwise it's a non-event right from the word go.

and it wne unheard- Same thing happened when I begged AICN to hire Corey Haim to work for them, and now he's dead.
Mike Jittlov needs a nice job at Weta.
Mike Jittlov deserves a better life than the one he has.

I'm going to flip flop daily here, but please let someone from the 80s film school club do it while they're still alive. you can have your Vaughns and your Birds and your WS Andersons once Spielberg gets too old to direct anymore

Luke, Han, Leia, and Lando needs to be played by the original actors, or else the movies wouldn't work if those actors are replaced. "Star Trek" got away with replacing actors, but that can't be done with "Star Wars". So if Han Solo is going to return, then he needs to be played by Harrison. They don't have to have an aging Han Solo doing action scenes, he can just continue to be a mentor for Luke and be married to Leia. It makes total sense to bring Harrison back. I think it'll be amazing to see the original cast reunite for another Star Wars movie. Bring IT ON!

I think the protagonist for episode VII should be a chubby, lame, ginger Texan.
His key ability? his extreme laziness.
His favourite food? pink flavoured cup cakes.
His BFF? Billy the equally lame kid.
They could travel a galaxy (which should be far, far away) in a large penis shaped rocket borrowed from Dr. Evil.
The could romp in a tent pitched in secluded woodland.
They should make it a musical too.
after all arn't you mildly curious to see what happens now the genie is out of the bottle?
I am.

And I don't mean that it is going out of business, although that may be the case as far as I know. I mean that there are hardly any posts. The DVD column is long gone and it seemed like Ary was the only one putting up content but even he is scarce now.
AICN is dead.

You can tell by the Gungan dream he has. There's also a red lens flare in his eyes, before he shoots Greedo. Lucas talked about it in early interviews even though it wasn't that way in the original script.

Fassbender as Thrawn or as another villian would be great.
The PT had so many problems but one of the biggest was that once Darth Maul was killed off there was no threat. The baddies were all CG toons and the heroes went through them as if they weren't even there (they werent!).
The battle droids... the Neimodians...the locust fuckers from BUGS LIFE... the clones...
All just cartoon villains - LITERALLY.
You need to put the heroes in real jeopardy again. Some Imperial Nazi bastard like Fassbender or Jason Isaacs that can exude proper menace not just a *phantom* menace!

A Grand Admiral sitting there talking about a fucking painting. Oooooh yeah. Sorry, that's not cinematic, in the Star Wars sense or any sense.
And the epic final battle is an old codger who simply throws gravel in your face. That's it. I'm sorry, that didn't even work on the fucking page.

I was what, 14 when it came out? And I like a lot of kids thought it was the greatest thing ever. I think it prompted me, and a lot of other young people, to join the military. Because "Star Wars" was above all a WWII movie. A diverse group of misfits gets together to fight the evil empire.
"The Empire Strikes Back" was better. As with a lot of trilogies, I think, the second one is better. The makers have a better handle on the material and its possibilities. Then the third one tanks. The material was exhausted, but nobody wanted to admit it, for financial or other reasons. The other obvious example is "The Godfather" trilogy.
The original Star Wars trilogy was great stuff from a show business standpoint- can't miss material done by pros. But looking back on it even just a few years after it came out, it was pretty formulaic and hackneyed. Not everything you loved as a kid was really all that great.
The WWII movie is still a valid genre- see "The Avengers", a great WWII movie. But I think the day of "Star Wars" came and went a long time ago. They will sell a lot of action figures with these, but it won't be for grownups.

I wouldn't mind seeing a Thrawn-type guy assembling a new Empire, have some traitors in the midst with Han, Leia and Luke...
Not too keen on anything or anyone being resurrected from the dead... if they are dead, stay that way...
Han is the military General. Leia the Head of State, Luke the Jedi Master...
plenty of room for betrayal and such...
Lando as...whatever he does...

I'm all for bringing back the original cast. Give Fisher, Ford, Billy Dee and Hamill personal trainers for a few months and shoot this thing! On a side note, all these fanboy wish list director choices are pathetic. Star Wars is a much richer, deeper and spiritual universe than The Avengers, Buffy or Serenity. Whedon can do humorous f/x filled action movies but he would be a HORRIBLE choice for a movie with any kind of depth and character development. Thankfully Whedon will be tied up for the next few years with Avengers 2.

His character will try to seek vengeance after his father will be killed in the first reel.
Han final line will be "I've got a bad feeling about this" before being decapited.
Herbert Humbert Solo will go to Dagobah to meet Brandon Skywalker and together they will live several great adventures and a gay romance wich will be unveil in Episode IX.

If you think this is me being negative you haven't seen nothing yet. I'm actually holding it back. I'm a very angry person. I know, it's not a positive personality trait, but i have made my peace with it a long time ago. And i'm a bit more then just half intelligent. I'm 3/5th intelligent.
Also, i dont call all this i have said before as negativity. No, i don't call it negativity, i call it realistic expectations. Reality has this nasty habit of being far more cynical then my worst nightmares. But if things turn out much better then i anticipated, so much the better. I'll be with you screaming of joy from the rooftops. We have a date.

Mostly because you were a kid when Star Wars came out, and NOTHING will ever be that cool again. You grew up, and see the world for how it really is now. There's no turning back, and you are going to be let down.
Go watch the originals again, and remember how you used to feel as a kid. Be glad you will always have that.

that Lucas did not follow the original plan with 7, 8 & 9 followed by 1, 2 & 3. The ninth movie was originally going to be released in 2001!
Although he later denied those plans, I still have the Time Magazine article prior to the release of Empire that included those details.

First, there's the mythology gag thing about it: Russell was one of the contenders for the role of Han Solo. There is filmed evidence of him reading for the role, and he was pretty good. Of course, this is no news for any geek worth his salt.
Secondly, and this is another one of those no news stuff, Russell has connections with Disney thanks to his previous career as a Disney teen star, his life before Snake Plissken. There's a story going on that his name was Walt Disney's last words.
So, it all adds up. And Russell, despite his age, he still looks very convincingly as a badass. Not too sure if Ford can sell that anymore. Besides, Russell still is quite lively in his acting, while Ford does nothing but parade his boredom onscreen. I never seen a star suffering from such an extreme case of ennui then Ford.

almost to the point where i dont want to ever read them again for fear i will think them silly or lame.
And we cant get the thrawn trilogy as movies now even if they wanted to. The prequels don't match up with the histories they were exploring in those stories.
But Thrawn or a thrawn-esque villain would be a cool addition to the canonical movieverse, and so would the nohgri or a race of people similar in design to the them.
as long as they dont over-explain everything.

Star Wars movies are all about passage of time, growing up and getting older. We see Anakin go from 9 years old to over 40 as Vader. We see Obi-Wan from 20 to an old man. Yoda talks about getting older and dying and how that is the way of the Force. Luke and Leia go from babies to adults. Hell, even the droids show age.
So the idea of older Luke, Leia and Han fits right into Star Wars like a glove.

Think on this:
Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Lando. Everyone's back in an episode that catches up on where everyone is, what they're doing. A lot of what Timothy Zahn put in, but with obvious changes.
Spielberg directs this one as we transition into a new story with a few threads from the past.

Honestly, I'm all for Han Solo, the Marlboro Man Nerf Herder living someplace Connemara-y with Leia.
~I wanna death scene, or I don't do it.~
~Well, Harrison - Han is kinda... domestic now... he's getting up there, y'know?~
~Don't care. Gotta Die.~
~... Well... I guess the dishwasher could be leaking, and you get electrocuted... Fall in the bathtub, maybe?~

Even though I really don't want to see ANY of the OT characters as old, I feel people would be disappointed if they didn't see any major link to the OT. C3PO and R2-D2 are easy links, as they were in the prequels. But the one character that feels obligatory is Luke-- you know, just a small appearance. But, how are they going to do that with Mark Hammil looking like he does today?
You know, I'd rather they just have a hologram of a rather young looking Luke look-alike, giving some important information. They really shouldn't scare people with Old Luke.
And like I said in a previous TB, there should be the ghost of Yoda, who is really the heart of the series, as the Force is.
I really hope that they don't do a story as if 'evil' is rising again in that part of the galaxy. It would really invalidate the whole triumph of the OT. I really wish Disney had the balls to start a NEW story in some OTHER part of the galaxy and NOT rely on the nostalgia factor of seeing old ships and styles of things. Disney's all about conservative moves, and a nostalgic and familiar first movie would seem to be the best way to get people "warmed up" again. But what are they going to do with the rest of the trilogy? People are not going to want to come back, knowing that it will just follow this predictable formula of inching away from the OT. I say, they need to start bold, and establish this as a different kind of story, with different characters and different technology, than the OT.
I suppose it will all depend on there being a director who's actually excited about the project. They need to think-- what was the inspiration for the original Star Wars? These are new times, and people have changed. It has been 30 years since the OT, which is why I don't think it's a good idea to just "pick up where it left off". The whole idea of a new trilogy is bold, so they need to start bold. As in, take their time developing a new story.
On a personal note, I really hope we get to see ewoks again, or at least, AN ewok (an ewok who accidentally got stuck on a spaceship and really just wants to get back to his tribe, but ends up helping out in a small way?). I hope Disney disregards all the hate that ewoks apparently get. To me, ewoks fit in perfectly with the whole Star Wars flavor. On one hand, you have the pious stuff like Yoda and the Force, but on the other, you have these little primitive teddy bears who really don't know much, but they're still better than the evil empire! Which goes to show that technology can blind people as to what's fundamentally right and wrong. I want to see an ewok, teddy bear suit and unblinking eyes and all, probably befriending one of the main characters. That's really all the nostalgia factor I need. But Disney will probably go with public opinion on that one.

they dont even know each other are alive?
could be cool. just tell small in-universe stories about their later years.
Han could get caught up in an escape from NY type thing. Luke could get his padawan. if people like the padawan he can be the protag of ep 9.

we need new storylines not dynastic fame and family bullshit.
i mean wtf are they gonna do Han's rollin around in a clean upgraded millenium falcon and every time he shows up somewhere they go Hey! General Solo! Thanks for saving the galaxy?

A very aged Luke Skywalker on his death bed.
He calls for a young one and tells him in a very deep voice that he will meet a great evil and need to prepare himself to become a Jedi.
Then Luke rest in his bed and slowly disappear (like yoda in ROTJ).
Now that would be awesome.
And Star Wars could continue with new adventures and brand new characters

They're going to be more of what made the prequels and the special editions suck, overproduced CGI action-video game sequences!!! Focus on the grittier drama live-action tv show! I for one had enough "new" Star Wars Universe with the prequels; Lucas new Star Wars works great for Clone Wars but completely sucks as part of anything to do with the original trilogy; He should have made his prequels and then did remakes of episodes 4-6 leaving the originals the hell alone! I for one also don't need to see some show on DisneyXD featuring tween Padawans enrolled at the Jedi Academy...and that is probably what we will get!

He should have been able to pull everyones weapons out of there hands and a force shield over him that noone could get through. Im mean really hes a jedi master why does he need a lightsaber? That suck

he's not gonna do it. It would be a colossally bad idea on his part. Why risk inciting fanboy wrath?
A Spielberg-directed ROTJ should have happened but didn't. His directing Episode VII doesn't make things better.

They've already said they're not using that crap, yet's here's Harry: 'This means at some point we will have Grand Admiral Thrawn.'
No, it doesn't mean that. There are die-hard Star Wars fans like me who have absolutely no use for the Expand Universe crapola. Thrawn is dead to me because he never lived for me to begin with.
Not canon, not interested, not gonna happen.

That film brought the original cast back years after, but in an interesting way. In that film, France is divided and the Musketeers have different allegiances which makes for a couple of good scenes where D'artagnan and co. nearly come to blows.
I think that if they bring back Han, Luke and Leia they should try to spice it up like that. Make some tension between them, they fall out and nearly, NEARLY, become enemies.

Look, I'm second to none in my admiration of Spielberg's best work (Jaws, ET, Raiders, etc.), but I don't think he needs this headache and 2-3 year commitment. I truly would be shocked if he got anywhere near this.

Supposively, it was originally going to be one loooooong movie with the face off with the Emperor at the end. He decided it was impractical and cut it down to just the first act! LOL! Oh, man, there are so many alternate histories running around now it's insane!

Dear Harry,
Blah, blah, blah...ego masturbating comment here. Bullshit claims there. I have an in with anyone and everyone in film and have personally read everything these people have written. Not to mention every comic, novel, magazine/newspaper clipping and ass wiping.
Lust
Harry
PS - Sorry about the typos - KFC chicken fingers...

Wouldn't that make a great opening shot? Seeing the poor old battered ship smacked around in space battle then slowly diving through the atmosphere in a burning roll Star Trek III-style? It would certainly set a mood.

The directors that people are throwing out there are hilarious. Fincher? Nolan? Ya right...dream on fanboys. Kershner & Marquand were nobodies both before and after Star Wars. Nothing they did resembles the greatness of Empire or Jedi. Ditto with producer Kurtz. If you don't think Lucas was steering the overall ship, than you're simply in serious fanboy denial.
Also, Empire isn't remotely as "dark", "gritty" or serious as what Fincher or Nolan usually do. I really don't want a Star Wars movie that never cracks a smile.
Second. They're not going to throw away current tech and use only miniatures, models and sets. Don't be retarded. And even if they did, is that why the old movies were better? Ep 1 had the most extensive use of models & miniatures out of ALL the Star Wars movies. Case closed.
Again, this fanboy checklist of what must happen is ridiculous.
Lastly, if you're claiming to have seen Star Wars in the late 70s, and you're still whining about ANYTHING Star Wars related online, than you should be ashamed of yourself. You're over 40 years old and this is how you're acting out your midlife crisis?
I'd do what someone else suggested. Wait for Disney/Fox to release the unaltered trilogy (Don't worry, it's coming now) on Blu-ray, and just watch those ove and over again. Skip the new movies. They're not going to be what you want nor expect. Because simply put, YOU don't know what you want or expect. You never have.

Um, yeah. Like when he blames Lucas for the terrible things in it...
http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/the-projector/yeah-steven-spielberg-knows-everybody-hated-last-indiana-170003257.html
And you say 'a lot of people liked it.' Really? I think most of us hardcore Indy fans merely endured it.

but yeah that does sort of drip with the 'it could have been better' vibe.
But the fact is that Spielberg CHURNS out movies. he can't think all of them are going to be his best movie. Thats what guys like Tarantino and Cameron think. Spielberg just makes.
and its obvious he still happy making. I doubt he stops to think very often. That sound like an insult but I think it can be an admirable quality. I certainly don't have it.
and hardcore Indy fans are a minute fraction of people. its the same as Die Hard 4. all the Die Hard fans hated it. People? a lot of them liked it. Hence- lots of money and Die Hard 5.

...Seriously, how can any story top the Skywalker saga?
Anakin and Luke started and ended the biggest happenings this universe has ever encountered:
The Empire and the Rebellion.
Honestly, what can be just as influential?
I'm geniunely scared this is going to turn into yet another "parent" story, where the movies are basically just about Luke, Han, and Leia, raising their kids and everything that happened in the first six films are reflected and paralleled with these films. Or, those characters get cameos and the movies follow other leads, but they are just rehashes of achetypes we've already met from the previous films.

There's the protagonist for the next three. He wages war against the ENTIRE republic, the Sith remnants, the new Jedi, and the civilians. Payback for enslaving his people and killing them wholesale during the Clone Wars. A complacent populace, the Republic. A willing collaborator, the Jedi. The architect of their enslavement, the Sith. It's all there.
First movie deals with the swift and mysterious massacre of all remaining Sith temples and camps by a true Phantom Menace.
Second movie deals with epic destruction of Coruscant and other wealthy worlds of the old Republic. Death of Luke.
Third movie deals with the showdown between Fett's Clone Empire and the Jedi.

The original Star Wars trilogy was entirely encapsulated in the first few seconds: small rebel ship helplessly fighting off an enormous imperial ship. Everything you needed to know about the story that was to come was right there in those first few seconds.
The prequel trilogy starts out with a ship just hanging in space with another ship coming in to dock with it. Everything that went wrong creatively in the pequels is right there in those first few seconds.
The first few seconds of spaceships is the overture to the entire story which follows. I don't dispute that the prequels were attempting to tell a tragedy, nor that it wasn't a worthy story to try to tell ... but here's my challenge: in 30 seconds of spaceships, give me a scene that gives a proper synopsis of the story of Anikan's fall to come.

I can't think of anything more pathetic than someone proclaiming to be a "true fan" as a defense for their opinion.
You're either a teen who wants to be taken seriously, or a 40+ year old nerd trying to justify his opinion to some random person on the Internet. Either way, you come out looking ridiculous.
And why do "true fans" always talk on behalf of the rest of the world? As far as I can tell, true fan just means an opinionated narcissistic fan.

I was going to accuse Harry of waiting to see how the TB's were going before he chimed in with something similar, but having read his post it seems Harry's ideas are off the fuckin reservation... I agree with some of what he said, but a horror SW or Brian Depalma SW, hell noes....

not better (or anywhere near) as good as the originals, but they got SW interest (including merchandising) back up and without them we probably would not have this deal.. or maybe it would have happened years ago, DAMN I just defeated my own argument..

Bring back Hayden Christensen via a time-travel plot - but pre-darkside turn. That way we can see him team up with his aged son Luke and fight a revived Palpatine.
Also -Chewbacca should die as he did in the comics to add an element of sadness.
That's what I'd be saying if I was out of my fucking mind.

Harry,
Look man, I want this site to work out. I like it here. But with the financial woes you guys are going through, it is completely irresponsible for you to be so disengaged. This is YOUR site. It was BUILT for shit like this.
You waited until November 5th to say a word about the single biggest bit of Geek news since this site's inception. This news was first announced on October 30th. Your reasoning was that you were sidetracked by a Halloween party. You literally did nothing with this for a week.
Instead we only hear about BNAT- Your birthday, and your Halloween party in the last week or so. The Halloween party is your excuse for waiting an extra five days to even mention this news. I'm glad you're excited for these events, but they don't pay the bills. Neither does writing about them.
If you're burned out or just don't want to do this anymore, there's no shame in it. Hand it over to someone else who will put the work in, and collect a check. You've done your time. But this bit of news was a Godsend for this site, and you have done literally NOTHING with it.
Drive some traffic! Circulate some rumors! Start a dialogue! Make some phone calls! You should be all over this! This is your BUSINESS!
You've said for months how things are changing around here, starting with you. At some point very soon you'll have to back that up, or this site will be dead. I don't think anyone here wants to see that happen, but you're the one behind the wheel. Start steering.
Respectfully,
fuckinamateurman

True, there was a meeting. However, after a few hours up at Skywalker Ranch listening to George go on and on about it, Lynch developed a skull-splitting migraine. His agent nearly killed himself when informed by DL that there was just no way he was doing this. I think we can all agree that a Lynchian Star Wars was not something anyone would want to have seen. Although, if we had, we'd probably all still be having nightmares about it, although not necessarily "bad" nightmares, just very, very... strange.

I must admit that I was wondering why there wasn't much SW news circulating on AICN. This drove me to other sites like slashfilm.
Though i will always check in here i tend to get my geek fixes elsewhere, Sorry Harry.

I'm sorry, but I never took Count Dookie seriously. (You say it's actually 'Dookoo'? Bullshit!) I love Christopher Lee, but between him and General Grievous I had to wonder how in the hell the...oh whatever the bad guys's camp was called...ever got off the ground. On one side you have a guy that can barely lift a lightsaber and whose machinations amount to making a clone army and running a trade blockade, and on the other side you have a robot with emphysema.
Sorry, I never took the threat seriously, nor did I believe the fight scenes between Dooku and anyone else, especially when Lucas chose to use CGI models as stand-ins. (I can't be the only one in the theater that laughed at the fight between Dookie and Mexican-jumping-bean Yoda.)

Does that make me a bad person? The old phrase, "Fool me once..." sure springs to mind right now.

Nov. 6, 2012, 4:52 p.m. CST

by Cobra--Kai

Vades, yes I should have said AOTC and ROTS.
I went into it in another thread but TPM has a much closer look to the OT... Anyone with eyes can see the difference in the cinematography that occurs with Clones and Sith. Whether you call it the photoshop aesthetic, the tv movie look or the green screen sheen. I think the relocation to shooting in australia has to be partly culpable.

So, I gave up on star wars books in the late nineties. I've recently re-read a bunch of my old ones along with most of the rest of my home library due to bouts of insomnia, and I'm certain that the thrawn series was the best up to 1998 or so, with the possible exception of splinter of the mind's eye, which is a whole other thing.
Anyway, of you people who have continued to read the sw novels, which are the standouts that you would say are as good as or better than the thrawn series? I need some stuff to put on my list for the used book store.
I'm looking for ones that are the most readable and accessible, I don't want to have to google what happened in a bunch of other stuff to understand what's happening. And I prefer good writing and character development to action, or politics and military strategy.
Any suggestions?

It's obvious that Lucas tried to keep the look and feel of the prequels as close as he could, but they definitely have an old-school feel next to more modern Sci-Fi like District 9, Moon, etc. I wonder if the next director will be given a free hand to use more of an active camera, or if they'll try to make it look just like the others? I suspect they won't tinker, but it'll be interesting to see.

Ah well, this is a decade old discussion and it's not like I've ever made/bridged a billion dollar franchise. But I'm still convinced that everything you need to know about the fan reactions to the original Star Wars and Episode I can been seen by looking at the those opening seconds after the fanfare and asking what they say or don't say about what is about to follow for the next two hours.

I'll be the cynical guy who thinks he's grown out of Star Wars. We just need the tubby Jack Blackesque guy, the nerdy Windows guy, and the guy with testicular cancer. We can stop by Austin and say whats up to Harry while were at it.

I have never seen a person so in love with the TEENY TINY bit of fame he had TEN YEARS AGO.
You met some celebrities and now you still suckle at Hollywood's teat like a child and hoard and ogre over everyone else on your site like you are some kind of hot shit.

Is it just me or does Harry sound even more of a retard than usual by the end of this piece? Willow? Howard the Duck? What?
Harry, you and your site are fucking irrelevant and annoying. If it wasn't for Quint, I wouldn't even bother with it at all.

Have the Sith return in large numbers with a couple races of never before seen alien species as allies in an attempt to take over the new republic.
It would be the dark mirror image of the prequels in that there were multiple Jedi, but the Sith were on the way out, or pretty much gone except for Darth Maul and Palpatine.
Have Luke and a few young Jedi outnumbered by the Sith. The Jedi order is now the underdog, just as Luke was in the original trilogy. The danger is greater now.
As for introducing new aliens, it would add something new to the next three episodes. It may be novel to us viewers seeing all the wacky aliens in the cantina, but to characters like Han Solo or Obi-Wan, it is just normal life. It would add a lot of tension if the heroes had to not only face the threat of the Sith, but unknown beings who have different strengths and weaknesses to anything they are familiar with. It doesn't have to get all sci-fi either. Just make some cool new aliens to be foot soldiers to the Sith. Oh, and new battle droids as well. The Sith could have designed a whole new breed of battle droid to bring to the war.

We have enough of that, and at this point it isn't new or that unique at all. In fact, at this point the old school style of Star Wars seems more fresh to me than just another shakey-cam Bayformers mess of CGI and explosions.
That approach of going shakey-cam or doco-style only works in the case of something like Battlestar Galactica, which if we are honest needed a complete re-imaging. The old show was uber-cheesy because it tried too hard to be Star Wars and cute for the kids. When the new BSG was done, they were smart to have gone the way of building the world in a gritty and more relatable fashion. Even then, that was nearly a decade ago, when the whole hand-held shakey-cam style was still new and interesting enough to work. Watch BSG and you'll notice that as it went on, into the later seasons they even moved away from the extreme shakey-cam stylings of the first season or two.
Now, don't get me wrong, I actually like the original BSG. It has its moments and we never would have gotten the excellent new series. Thing is Star Wars is totally different. Star Wars worked out of the gate. To change it all now to try and be hip for today's audience would be a mistake IMO. The real problem with the prequels wasn't really the style of it all, but the writing and characterization.

...Harry and Harrison Ford and their opinions/involvement in future Star Wars.
The whole point of the Solo archetype is that he doesn't become an old fuck. He dies in a blaze of glory.
No one needs to see Leia, either.
We just need Hamill's Master Skywalker and the next generation of Skywalkers.
Fuck the rest.

We don't need a blue skinned villain who can miraculously predict the moves of his enemy by studying their art. That makes the Media Mogul Bond Villain look diabolical.
Those books were fun to read at the time but no way should they be turned into movies.
We need a threat to the New Republic that is not :
a) A blue skinned former Grand Poobaa Admiral
b) Remnants of the old Empire
c) A clone of the Emperor
Make it an invasion from an external force like Mandalorians or the Sith. That allows the ship modellers to go hog wild on new ship designs while still maintaining some of the classics.

Today's Harrison Ford is not the 35 year old actor you remember. For years now his face has molded into a permanent "I gotta take a crap" look that says "I just want a paycheck". Han was my hero from Star Wars but getting the 120 year old Harrison to play Han now would just be sad. We would all be looking at him on screen thinking, "What the fuck happened to him?". It was bad enough seeing him butcher Indy. Please leave Han alone.
Now, if he dies in the Falcon in the first scene with Carrie Fisher then I recant what I just said.

...the scene in the first Clone Wars animated movie, where Mace Windu single-handedly wipes out an entire battalion, including that big smasher thing.
Now, I understand that you can't have all the Jedi so powerful or the Empire would be no match, but I have a way around it. You have a Jedi that was once a Sith, and turned good. But he's learned how to tap into the dark side without losing control... most of the time. They keep him on the council, and away from the battlefield because he's dangerous. But you can have that one awesome scene where he's the last line of defense, or get's separated, and just kicks ass.
That animated Mace Windu scene is still my favorite Star Wars moment (as an adult, at least).

This site should be vying for a return to the spirit of 1977, of 1982. Heavy Metal. Frazetta. Star Wars.
Not Toy Story 3 and Narnia 7.
Not for a studio that long ago abandoned their rebellious spirit and handmade inventiveness for a zillion CGI movies with talking potatoes. Those aren't classic movies. They are calculated product made to manipulate and hit the right notes. Rinse, wash and forget. Princess and the Frog was animated on computers. No one gives a fuck about that movie.
Even the ONE good thing to come from Disney's live action department, the Pirates series, are mostly bloated overdone spectacles that will be forgotten soon. 20,000 leagues will never be forgotten. The Jungle Book will never be forgotten. People should be fighting for those kinds of movies to come back, instead of falling for the 3D corn syrup Disney now offers on a monthly basis. This is just sad.

As if growing older - which is part of the journey through life for all of us - prevents somebody from serving a cause? Please. I'd wager Ford would kick the hell out of the great majority of talkbackers in here even at 70.
What makes a saga INTERESTING is when you have development - and that includes the passage of time - which means characters grow older. And there's nothing WRONG with growing older. Kids are useless - only in hollywood are kids saving the world. I find it so much cooler to see a wisened, grizzled, experienced old soldier fighting his last war than to see some fresh faced punk kid stumbling his way through a situation for the first time.
As for those who think being older makes you worth less or less capable of doing anything ... I know some world war II vets in their 80's who would knock your teeth out if they needed to. I'm not even kidding. Don't count out the old men - or havent you seen any of those videos on youtube where exactly that happens? Buzz Aldrin decking that irritating little snot still brings a smile to my face.

Why? Is it fear of going to my grave never having seen that third star wars trilogy I imagined as a kid?
No. One cannot argue that Disney will be the one to take star wars down into the gutter of mass produced lowest common denominator fluffy cotton candy that they have become.
Lucas already did that.
In some way I think this might present such a huge artistic challenge for the filmmakers that it might redeem the franchise...
I hope so anyway...

...Kirk, Spock, and Scotty in UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY. As sixty and seventy somethings, for the most part, their roles didn't call for them to do much beyond pressing buttons and/or shouting "Fire" to the guy shooting the photon torpedoes. All Disney has to do is make Solo an Admiral of some super starship (i.e. Millennium Falcon X Class -- to borrow from Trek) which wouldn't require him to run down corridors or other such major athletic feats.

Still mixed on the sequel trilogy, i.e. old actors (thus old characters), v characters slightly aged after Jedi (thus new actors), dealing with a fledging new Republic etc.
Whilst we won't get Thrawn, put me also in the camp who would like to see a Thrawn like character
Also put me down in the camp, that is much more concerned about the writing, than directing (most of the names mentioned so far I would be ok with, though if we have a lot of younger actors obviously want to see a Director that can give direction - unlike Lucas)

At first I didn't notice it, and laughed that everyone was setting themselves up for another fail as they worked themselves into a tailspin about a film that is coming out in two years. But now I think it's even more necessary that they go through this process while a giant morass opened up underneath them. I realized that they are trying to live in two places at once. And while that is physically impossible, they seem to think psychologically they can. While you can't go back to your childhood neither would the mind be able to reconcile the fact that you are trying to live in the past when there are older versions of characters you see as forever youthful on screen.
Star Wars is not dead, but as you know it!
I don't miss my childhood, I don't care. While I like the first two Star Wars films(and detest the prequels) I am not nostalgic about them. I only seen ROTJ in the theatre anyway. I am not a collecter (though I once was). Now I see all that merchandise and the obscenity of it as filling landfills. Star Wars is dirty and there is no way to clean it off when everything that orbits it is garbage.
Star Wars might survive(it might not) but you will not be a part of it. The new generations will accept a Star Wars of a Genndy Tartakovsky(proportion) with ludicrous demonstrations of force powers, that is not grounded in the old one and makes it look like a dinosaur. Once you incorporate that, suddenly you don't have the intimacy of an original(character) caught in any dire circumstances, since the devestation that they can cause is cataclysmic. And in a universe like that the old characters of the originals are easily killed and have no place. Do you see what happens when you add that type of dynamic? You alter everything to which we'll have you people complaining about lost magic. And you can rest assure the new people involved are only interested in showing power displays catering to a new generation.
Star Wars is dead for most everyone I know and there is no going back. And for many even this site.

Don't need Han or Leia. I say this as a huge Han Solo fan. People slam Hamill but he took Jedi seriously and I think he was quite good in it. Ford phoned it in and has contempt for the character. Fisher will end up winking at the audience, as someone in another talkback on another site pointed out. Perhaps that's unfair to her but she wasn't much good in Jedi either.
Jedi was beyond weak but I think Hamill was one of the strongest elements in the film. As a character, Luke actually grew in the the trilogy and Hamill stepped up in each case. There were some clunky moments for him in Jedi but those were often direction and dialog miscues as is so often the case with Lucas.
Finally, Luke is the center of the OT, even with the Vader redemption. Luke left home and entered a "larger world" on so many levels. He fought a great battle and won but then faced terrible reversals. Luke faced Vader and failed. He suffered. His faith was shaken. He learned from his mistakes. He matured. It became his mission not to destroy Vader but to destroy the evil in Vader. Or rather, to help his father reject the evil that allowed him to become Darth Vader. In the end, though Luke himself is tempted to embrace evil he rejects it and helps his father to do the same. I think Hamill handled that well. In any case, that is the Luke we see at the end of Jedi and the Luke that appears in a new film should be consistent with that. No doubt he will have developed and changed over the years but we should be able to recognize him as the same man. I think that given the right script and the right director, Hamill will do that well.
I'm sure there are many who will disagree with me and I respect that but I think we can all agree that whatever choices are made, the film must focus on solid characters and story. Don't just put Luke, Han, Leia or any of them in there so the audience says, "Cool". That will only work for the older audience that remembers them from back in the day and it will last for about five to ten seconds. It does not relieve the writers of the responsibility to remain true to the characters, deliver a good story and make us care.
If you have managed to read all this then I thank you for your patience and consideration.
Cheers,
LL

There are at least 20 better choices.
Here are just some of them:
Steven Spielberg
Peter Jackson
Robert Rodriguez
Kathryn Bigelow
Sam Raimi
Guillermo del Toro
Alfonso Cuarón
David Fincher
Joss Whedon
Jim Abrahams
Tim Burton
I don’t even mention my favorites for the job (together with Spielberg) - Tarantino and Cameron. They are Authors on the level of Lucas who have their own world creations and styles and I’m not sure they are fans of this YODAYODA shit.

Lucas wouldn't have met them all for dinner to tell them he had the sequels planned if they weren't gonna be in it. So we know they are. One question i have is-so he had the sequels planned last year, told Hammil and fisher about them but never said he planned on selling out. So what changed his mind? Why did he go from telling them all he planned on making sequels to selling the whole thing? The guys are all too old and out of shape to remain the focus of the new movies. They will be in the background or get killed off quickly. Luke will probably follow the lead of obiwan/quigon in the first movie. It would be their children or new characters. They don't have technology to do cgi humans in a realistic way yet(think Terminator Salvation). Only way around it is to do the Looper bruce/gordon lovett thing. Even if its set 40 years in the future they are too old and past it to be seen on the screen

who wants to see his childhook hero as a very old guy in diapers who needs stuntmen and cgi to do his heroics in the movie?
Mark Hamil,regardless his appearance, makes perfect sense to have him in the movie as an old jedi master like Kenobi was.
so yeah, fuck Ford, the guy who claimed that he would never do Han Solo again but now that he is in the twilight of his career he changed his stance.

Above you wrote what i consider to be the most mature, smart and thoughful coment in regard to the future SW movies to be and the general attitude about the fanbois.
One thing i do have a bit of a difference of opinion from you: i do think the fanbois know what they want, it's just that they want the humanly impossible. They want a perfection not even the original movies had. This is 1998/1999 all over again. Two things might happen: the fanbois are setting themselves for crushing disapointment, or the they will go in a state of fugue and denial and fool themselves thinking that SW returned to a blissful perfection from the days of the original trilogy. Regardless, it will be fun to watch.

then make the prequels, 7, 8, 9 later. Seriously, after a long deliberation on the fate of Star Wars, one expects it will just be treading over old ground. The old Empire was crushed; the Emperor obliterated. Now a new dark power will rise, and forces of good will ensue. Then i presume, only to be taken down...again!
Can't imagine a new movie without the threatening, looming presence of Vader - even if he did take on the form of an annoying, snotty nosed little critter from the beginning.

While I was thinking about possibilities for story lines.
Whether it's a happily every after and wonderful then something bad happens.
Whether there's been peace and everything's kind of falling apart. Luke, Han are kind of miserable and have to come out of retirement. Which they have been wanting to do.
The thought hit me... I don't want to see these characters in a CGI shitfest.
So they better get a good director who does a lot of practical and makes things look real.

Harry, no one gives a fuck about your opinion anymore. This has been the case for 10 or more years.
Your chiming in means nothing. Just stop. You don't even care enough to write properly so we can understand what the blue fuck you're talking about.
You've been going on about changes -- yeah, right. The only thing that will change is the excuse you have.

Until I hear for certain that the studio has approached Ford/Fisher/Hamill, I'm operating under the assumption that Episode VII takes place after they're dead, giving the New Republic plenty of time to fall into the same state of complacency and corruption that destroyed it the first time.

Start the first movie with a much older Leia giving her final speech to the Senate before stepping down as the President of the Republic. Her loving husband, General Han Solo (retired), is there to take her to their retirement planet.
Later, when the shit royally hits the fan, a small rebel team is sent off to try and encourage General Solo to take a strategic planning role, much like General Madine in ROTJ.

Star Wars 1-6, even with all the wonderful help by Kasdan, Kershner, Kurtz, and others, were George Lucas' personal films. I don't understand why "geeks" don't understand the creative process any more, or have any respect for creators.
I think what's happened with all the comicons, etc, is "geek" moved from niche to mainstream and now everything has to please everybody. Well, creators can't please everybody, nor do they try to. That's what Studio control is for, and it should be lamented. The result is that sci fi and fantasy no longer challenges the status quo, but acts as a megaphone for one or more powerful factions.

The idea of Harrison Ford crashpartying into the new SW movies uninvited is too funny to go unmentioned. Can you imagine the director asking a Disney executive "what's he doing in the shooting? He wasn't cast!" and the executive "He just showed up and nobody had the courage to stop him".

Epi 1
PAN DOWN to reveal a small space cruiser heading TOWARD CAMERA at great
speed. PAN with the cruiser as it heads towardthe beautiful green planet of
Naboo, which is surrounded by hundreds of Trade Federation battleships.
Ep 4
The awesome yellow planet of Tatooine emerges from a total
eclipse, her two moons glowing against the darkness. A tiny
silver spacecraft, a Rebel Blockade Runner firing lasers from
the back of the ship, races through space. It is pursed by a
giant Imperial Stardestroyer. Hundreds of deadly laserbolts
streak from the Imperial Stardestroyer, causing the main solar
fin of the Rebel craft to disintegrate.

I don't read all the novels/comics but if Disney is looking at Han, Luke and Leia returning and setting it 25+ years after ROTJ then here is what we can expect! Unless they ignore Lucas hard fought struggle to keep stuff relatively aligned in the Star Wars universe!
*****SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW********
The New Jedi Order era, this sounds about like the timeline that Disney is looking to set the film during (25-30 years after ROTJ) but there is a whole hell of a lot of backstory missing for all the major players!
Beginning twenty-one years after the events of Return of the Jedi and telling the story of an invasion of the galaxy by a race of extra-galactic religious zealots.
The Yuuzhan Vong begin a massive invasion of the galaxy, and quickly gain ground despite efforts at repulsion made by the New Republic and Luke Skywalker's New Jedi Order. Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo, and a new generation of heroes battle the bloodthirsty fanatics as they overtake an unprepared Republic, killing untold numbers of innocents and devastating countless planets, even conquering the galactic capital of Coruscant.
Some of the stuff that happens during this period~
Chewbacca dies at Sernpidal.
Ben Skywalker is born to Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade.
Anakin Solo (born around 6 years after ROTJ) dies on Myrkr.
Jacen Solo (born around 5 years after ROTH along with twin, Jaina) is imprisoned by the Yuuzhan Vong.
The YVH-M droids are created by Lando Calrissian.
Admiral Ackbar dies.
Jacen Solo begins his search for the Force in an effort to determine if Vergere is right.
The Legacy era, I don't think they would jump this far ahead but it is here that the ultimate fates of characters such as Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa Solo, Han Solo, Ben Skywalker, C-3PO, and others are revealed.
Major events happened in this era, such as Jacen Solo's fall to the dark side and transformation into Darth Caedus, as well as the Second Galactic Civil War. In the hole between the Fate of the Jedi book series and the comics, there are lots of unanswered questions: the downfall, redemption and return of the New Jedi Order.

I read you.
I think that many in here believes that since Sw is no longer in Lucas' hands, Sw has now become more democratic, close to the public and fans. I think otherwise. Sure, the newer Sw movies will get test-marked to death by Disney, but that for me is not true acessibility to the public. I thinlk SW just lost it's human face, which was Lucas's, for good or ill. Once you could identify SW with a person, a human being. Now it's a corporation. And despite the smily rat in the logo, Disney is as personal as McDonalds is with the creepy clown.

I can remember getting all excited back in 96 or 98 reading on this site how the rumors were indicating how the Millennium Falcon was going to play a part in the prequels... I found this site way back when by searching for info on the prequels.

Twohyfilm reflects the extraordinary passion, vision, and storytelling of its founder, David Twohy," said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. "This transaction combines a world-class portfolio of content including The Chronicles of Riddick, one of the greatest family entertainment franchises of all time, with Disney's unique and unparalleled creativity across multiple platforms, businesses, and markets to generate sustained growth and drive significant long-term value.

i kow many want him to be the head of the story, the de facto protagonist. Others want him more as a side character, a mentor figure but outside of the action.
I think both can happen. Use some other character as a decoy protagonist, but have Luke as the real hidden protagonist, just like in the movie No Country for Old Men, where the real protagonist was Tommy Lee Jones and not Josh Brolin. Both could be satisfied.

the prequels suffered from a lot of things but one of them was the sedentary nature of the characters. They had a home, they were established members of society. All the danger was either cartoony missions to other planets or totally unthreatening politics of which we already knew the ending.
In the other movies the rebels were constantly be hunted, attacked and chased from places they sought refuge. Literally the only place that feels safe is Dagoba and Luke is the only one who ever goes there.
That's what they should go for. There needs to be that nomadic and paranoid tension. Happy Yavin base with new young Jedi doesn't really do it.

They can use many of the characters, settings, ship designs, alien races, droid designs, etc from the EU without having to follow the same timeline of events or political structures.
They can have Luke as the head of a new Jedi Order, with Jayna, Jacen, Anakin, and Ben as new Jedi, without slavishly following the events and storyline of the comics and books.
They can have Thrawn and Pellaon without bothering with the Outbound Flight backstory.
They can portray a resurgence of the Sith without bringing the Emperor's clone into it.
They can have remnants of the Imperial Navy without bothering with the Galaxy Gun, or the Sun Crusher, or the Eclipse Class Star Destroyer.
Even if one doesn't like many of the plots from the EU material, one cannot deny that the EU contains plenty of interesting set dressing that can easily be used in the new movies.

Bet that Darth Vader appears in the sequels. The Empire is making a comeback and some evil new emperor wants to strike fear across the galaxy by bringing back the most fearsome symbol of their rule. It is just a costume, and anyone can wear it, not just Anakin Skywalker. Disney just got the rights to possibly the most iconic villain in film history. They will use him.

Remember when I said I wouldn't skip my DVD review column.........fuck that........
Oh, here's my Cloud Atlas review I did a month ago.......
Oh, hey, sorry about not saying anything about the biggest geek news in years..........
'Cause I had to throw a house party........
I guess I should write about Harrison Ford and Howard The Duck........
See you all in another month.........
Harry

I suppose everyone still thinks the trilogy is about Luke's journey and the prequels are about vader's journey etc etc WRONG!!! It's the story of R2D2 kicking fucking ass.... think about it... the force, light sabers, death stars, Han's blasters... R2 kicked all of their asses. The sequels are easy, just bring back R2 and maybe C3PO to translate, the rest don't count in my books.

I realize fanboys are pre-programmed to long for anything Star Wars related, but more movies is a god-awful idea. What makes this series special is that it's self-contained.
There was one story to tell and the magic of that arc lept from the screen into our collective consciousness forever. There is a reason, beyond the fact that they were just garbage, that the prequels didn't work: the told a story we didn't need to see. I don't even consider them canonical Star Wars, more like poorly executed fan-fiction crap.
Diminishing the cultural relevance of the original trilogy by treating the franchise like James Bond or Star Trek is a huge mistake. The new films may make money, coasting on the legacy of Eps IV through VI, but they will solely be a cash grab, with no reason for existing other than because they can. It's actually quite depressing.

the prequels are horrendous and GL's butchering of the OT was the last straw for me... thank god Harmy's despecialized editions turned out so great. They brought back my love of the trilogy and those are all I needed. Burn everything else.

And not run from it.
They could make Luke an old man who was a hero as a youth but then never really did anything spectacular again. He was never a great Jedi Master; everything he did after beating the Emperor was kind of mediocre.
Leia had post-traumatic stress from her war experience and abused some kind of crazy space drug. She was never as valuable as a peacetime administrator as she had been a war leader, and now she's kind of a has been that gets odd little assignments but nothing big.
Han turned into the most popular guy in the galaxy and had a long and illustrious career doing whatever the hell he felt like all the time. He married an incredibly skinny person half his age. Now he's old and tired too, though, and everything bores him, and he's sick to death of people asking him questions about a handful of famous incidents from when he was young.
And then some Thrawn-like evil military genius bursts on the scene, and they all have to fight again.
I'd go see that.

Go watch the Neverending Story or an epic of that level from the 80s and try not to cry for the level of craftsmanship that has disappeared from our films, only to be replaced by rooms full of hipsters making self-aware plastic talking fish movies on a dozen computers.
Jim Henson Creature Shop, bitches.
FARSCAPE.
People making weird creepy stuff with their own two HANDS.

Low budgets, sweat, corners, and people trying to tell good stories, that's what makes for good films. Like those D&D nerds in '82, like the first hippies to build Apple Computers, stitch together alien marionettes in an airplane hangar.... how many people of the classic sci-fi renaissance that George Lucas originally hired are now out of work??
What a sad apologist piece of shit movie The Muppets was. There IS a place for puppets, practical effects and CARTOONS in this world. They are NOT passe.
FINDING NEMO is passe. CARS 2 is passe.
Not the fucking DISNEY AND GEORGE LUCAS CLASSICS we all grew up with.

The Prequels had to compete with sixteen years worth of assumptions and expectations. THAT is why so many will not accept them.
I grew up with the original trilogy, and it's my favorite cinematic work. But let's face it: it's filled with corny, stilted dialogue and cardboard characters. People complain about Vader now shouting "Noooo!" at the end of ROTJ, but it's not like Lucas is changing Shakespeare, here, or even "The Godfather." These are flawed, corny movies, and the Special Edition changes are relatively minor.
As for the Prequels, they are ALSO corny and stilted. They also add immeasurably to the meaning and resonance of the saga. A good human being succumbs to evil; his son has to choose between continuing in his father's footsteps, or breaking the cycle.
Lucas envisioned multiple trilogies from the start; I have no doubt that the sequel trilogy will have a reason to exist.

Hamill and Fisher can't act, never could act, and are really ugly and annoying these days. Hamill has no presence. When he enters an empty room it becomes even emptier.
I say forget Ford as well. Fuck 'em all.

like 70s japanese movie samurai with powers.
So think of the SW universe like earth, okay? On earth you have samurai. they follow a code and use swords and have customs.
basically a lightsaber is just a sword thats not obselete because it comes with magic powers. (Those Shogun Assassin baddies could whup a modern marine cuz they can cause earthquakes and fly or whatever. A real Samurai would just get an M16 bullet in the head)
you know who else used swords? like almost every culture. different code, different customs.
Earth has a bunch of different locales and cultures (all of which had heroes and weapons. read: the force and lightsabers) and we translate that to a bunch of different planets in the galaxy, you should have a zillion different people using lightsabers and the force in a zillion different ways.
So why every Sith gotta be named Darth Something and every Jedi gotta be part of one Jedi order or another or distantly related to the Skywalkers. Can't dudes just get powers, wrestle with the responsibility of it and fight against guns with a laser sword?
that+good story is all I want. EU be damned.

EU is for Star Trek nerds who don't understand what Star Wars is. Grand Admiral Thrawn is proff possitive of that.
The only part of the EU that is decent is Cade Skywalker's story. If they do VII VIII IX I would be happy if he was the main character, but most of that story is a mess as well, just the characters are interesting.

. . . while Han yucked & hammed it up in Ep. VI, Luke was the shit as a much more established Jedi. I can totally see Hamill bring it as a Jedi master, while Harrison gives me no hope of bringing back the Han we want to see, even an aged, grizzled version.

. . . I'd also put money on Pete Docter. I'd have all the confidence in the world of Ep. VII being his first live action work. Action, drama, fun, humor, heart. He's brought all of that and then some . . .

I say sprinkle them around in Ep. 7 to get things moving forward on the right foot then get them out. The next three should focus on the Han/Leia kids and the rise of the Jedi. No need to drag the old characters along more than needed. We already have enough toys/action figures based on the old group...time for the new blood to jump in and give the franchise the boost it needs and Disney wants.

After all that investment in time and money in the expanded universe novels and other tie-ins, and enjoying them, to hear the news that Disney is not using it as material for the new SW movies to be and render all that as not part of canon must feel a bit frustrating. All that time and money spent must look all for nothing. It's a bit cold hearted from Disney.
On the other hand, not goign with such established stuff means less self-refericial wankery in the new Sw movies to be, and that's a good thing.
In fact, i defend the idea that the people in charge of the new SW movies shouldn't be fanbois.
The reason being that fanbois would make everything to try to make the new trilogy a copy of the original trilogy, which is just wrong.
Each trilogy should have an identity of it's own. The prequels, for all the things the fanbois complaina bout, it had it's own identity from the original. Same thing should happen with the new trilogy. The fanbois, however, wouldn't do that. They want everything about Sw to be repetition from the original trilogy. That's a mistake. Soembody who isn't a fanboi would know that and try to make the new SW trilogy into it's own thing, unhindred by fanboisim. SW should mantain it's identity, yes, but not at the expense of story. Basically, shouldn't be a slave to the petty wish and desires of the fanbois.

lol.
They could think of the EU like the 70 years of comic continuity for comic films and either draw on parts of it or not. but dont be slave to it.
how funny would it be to get a "Thrawn INO" who's totally different from Zahn's Thrawn.

utilizing lightsabers. Since it is sort of like a blaster bolt held in place, I always thought it should be due to force powers holding it there. That way non-Jedi could never wield one without killing themselves. I imagine it would take force powers from accidentally lopping off one's own limbs when swinging it, as well.

I am excited, I can't wait, but I just... I don't know. I'm concerned that how these films will work, wioll they follow Lucas' original 9 movie plan from years ago. There seems to be so many ifs and buts about this, it's hard not to have some trepidation.

Harry, are you British or Retarded? That was the most meandering, pointless, directionless piece of crap I have ever read. My IQ has dropped 120 points after reading that and I will never get those points back.

Posted this in the Michael Arndt thread, but thought it's worth adding on this thread, as well.
Here's a video from 5 years ago that provides an interesting connection between Abrams and Arndt. To say Abrams is a fan of Arndt's work would be an understatement. I'm guessing if an Arndt SW treatment lands on Abrams' desk he's reading it with great interest at the moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-iCzWhOgXY

Was the day the Disney announced it was buying Lucasfilm & starting a new Star Wars trilogy.
I've come to this site since '97. I was first led here to all the star wars scoops they had here. No one had more scoops than AICN at the time.
The scoops of course stopped coming a long time ago at this place. It isn't what it used to be. It's a mere shell of it's former self.
AICN has been on life support a long time.
Star Wars has always been a huge part of what this site was about and made it what it is.
The fact Harry was more excited about planning a Halloween party then making a quick update on this site says it all.
The plug was finally pulled on 10/30/12.
RIP AICN. You had a good run.

As I see it, there are two options.
1. We get a trilogy featuring old, fossilized versions of the characters we grew up with, which would just be sad.
2. They focus on a new angle, like the character's kids or something. We already saw that with the prequels, and we know how they turned out.
That's forgetting for a second that this franchised has been mangled beyond the point of recognition by Lucas and his "edits".
Conclusion: I'm out unless the new stuff somehow pulls off a miracle and looks awesome.
I can't imagine how Ford being in this will be anything except a mix of funny and sad.

Plinkett of Red Letter Media already exposed TPM. Rick Macullum watching the first edits with the rest of the crew knew the movie sucked. But they all had to play along in the DVD "behind the scenes" videos. The best thing Disney could do is remake the prequels. Like their outstanding production design on the Black Hole.

It just won't be the same story and timeline as the Thrawn trilogy. It was the first time in the SWU they showcased a competent non-sith tactician since the first movie. In ESB, the first admiral and captains were buffoons who Vader choked out of his way. Basically Vader was the main tactician in both SW and ESB and the Emperor in ROTJ.

The last two series of EU books maybe ok. No where near the level of Zahn's books. But different themes. The 2nd civil war books makes one suffer through at least two books of Boba Fett's supposed family life. Not nearly as interesting as the Mandalorian queen in the Clone Wars. And the offing of two major long time EU characters. Luke shows more force power than even Yoda and continues to do so in the most recent "Fate of the Jedi" series. There's a major antagonist that even Luke and the Jedi can't handle. A prolonged court case story that goes through several of the books. And how the jedi handle themselves without Luke around for a majority of the time. And a discovered major enemy civilization which seems to tie in more with the earliest timeline of the Dark Horse Tales of the Jedi comics. Trying not to spoil too much.

..... with the worthless opinion of a retarded dimwit who has run out of excuses as to why his website is so crap and why the DVD column is now so woefully late.
But hey, at least you found time to organise your halloween party and your ego trip Fat Cunt A Thon.
Lazy. And Pathetic.
So what is your rejoiner to me this time? Let me guess, numerous unspecified disasters that affect the very future of AICN but which are so secret you can't disclose them? Hmmmm.... bullshit. Why dont you just admit you are a lazy fuck who doesnt give a shit about this website any more?
Harry, you are a fucking disgrace. Sell up to someone who actually cares.

So you hated the prequels and yet you watched and studied the reactions of people in the DVD "Behind the scenes videos"? Interesting. I haven't seen any making of "Avatar" videos and there is a reason for this...

i cant stand people who gush over a particular thing....
Me personally I think Star Wars should be done. And this worldwide fandom creeping into real life in the form of fashion and mailboxes, etc is starting to get creepy and making Star Wars more of a joke than ever.
Makes me wish for the old days when you only had your imagination, Star Wars toys, and it was cool....

First Bill Murray with this death crap for GhostBusters 3, and now Harrison Ford also wants to be put to death if he signs on for another round as Han Solo in the new planned sequel trilogy set after the events of Return of the Jedi.
It's already been announced that these will be original stories, and with this comes a lot of buzz of when they will be set in the timeline established by George Lucas, and the Extended Universe.
As a fan I can only hope that we get to see the original cast in some form. If Solo has to die to make this happen then so be it.
I want to see an older Luke Skywalker, and a new bad guy that can be as equally as badass as Vader. This is all a fanboy wants.

Was to create a crystal core for the Jedi light sabers that only a Jedi could control, and that the light sabre's powers were limited only by the Jedi's. And...a single planet--guarded by Jedi--where the crystals grew. Thanks, Tartar, you out-Georged George.

WHO THE FUCK IS HAVING THESE 'GREAT' IDEAS AT DISNEY?
Is this the way is going to be? Studio interference left and right and film by committee?
We got to start an online petition right now and stop this madness!

If they are planning on making a movie every 2-3 years, they have a multitude of options. Even going with original stories, they need to respect and use the EU for all of its deep characterizations and fan favorites. After whatever they do for Ep. 7-9 (which I'm a little cautious about), they can have one off New Jedi Order movies about individual characters on missions. Kyp Durron as a spy / swashbuckling cocky Jedi out doing missions like Bond movies. A family dynamic of Corran Horn with his wife, Mirax, and kids, Valin & Jycella on adventures with crazy grandpa Booster in his Red Star Destroyer. Have Kyle Katern out and about. They can even have a Rouge Squadron series of films, movies following some smugglers or bounty hunters that people can attach to either through pre-established characters or new characters. Disney knows what they have on their hands as far as making money. They didn't just churn out crappy Marel movies while building up to The Avengers and it made a bank. I believe they will do the same here.